Wednesday, October 14, 2009

My boyfriend recently decided that he wanted me to make him a hat and a scarf for the winter time, that he could also wear at work if needed. He's an "ambulance driver" as most people call him. So the last time we were at the craft store I let him pick out a color for his stuff. He meticulously walked up and down the aisle, touching and examining yarns, comparing and going back. It was fun to see him going through the same anguish I go through when picking yarn for a project. He finally settled on a lovely Denim Ombre done by Bernat. Going with his uniform coordination, the yarn was done in deeper shades of blue.

The hat was just a basic 3x2 ribbing with a very lovely decrease pattern for the crown, and really didn't take any time to do at all. Next time I think I may decrease the circumference a bit, but the hat is very stretchy so it's not really all that noticeable at all.

The next project was the scarf to go along with the hat. I wanted something very similar in pattern, but that was still a bit different. I found this pattern on Ravelry and knew it was it! The first skein had gone by quite quickly and today it was time to join my next skein. When I was first starting out learning to knit, i would just tie a big ol ugly knot and hope it blended in somewhat. Today I was determined to do something nicer. I came across the Russian Join and found a wonderful video on Knitting Help that gave a step by step on how to do it. So I gave it a try and it was a success! It's probably one of the nicest joins I have done to date!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I recently celebrated another year closer to....eek!...30!!! Not quite there yet though. I was most excited when I opened the card that my mother had sent me and inside was a check and a picture of a sewing machine! While visiting her earlier this year on vacation, I had mentioned how I would like to have a sewing machine around for fix-it's and little projects, lo & behold I was soon to have my own in my possession.

After doing some research, I decided to settle on a Brother brand (which is also what my mother has). Joann Fabrics is currently having a sale since it's National Sewing Month...hmmm didn't know that existed...so I purchased mine through them....a few days later my Brother XL2600i arrived!!!

I haven't worked with a sewing machine since my botched attempt at making a pair of shorts in middle school home economics, and that was well over 10 years ago. I found some scrap fabric around the house, pulled out my trusty manual and set forth at reacquainting myself. I remembered how to fill and load a bobbin, and how to thread the machine (this model even comes with a nifty built in needle threader) and then moved on to playing with the stitches. After a few botched attempts I had finally gotten the basic hang of it again.

Now it was time for a simple little project! Enter the boyfriend's Nirvana t-shirt that was way to big and was going to be thrown out...perfect for a pillow! So after cutting...and lining up fabric...and pinning...and stitching...and stuffing...and attempting to stitch the last hole closed...I present to you.....

So I'm excited to see that I can remember how to do the basics and got a cute little project out of the deal. Next project is going to be some privacy curtains for the girl's bunk beds!